Album of the Week: Ed Sheeran – Autumn Variations

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our irregularly updated #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm. Listen in @tunein at http://tun.in/sfAtE or on the web player.

This is pretty clearly a between albums clearout of material from an incredibly talented master musician (ala Carly Rae Jepson’s The Loveliest Time or The National’s Laugh Track) so its not bright and bumpy as The Guardian seemed to hope. This is a great selection of contemporary/timeless singer-songwriter material.

Album of the Week: Ed Sheeran – – (Subtract)

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our irregularly updated #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm. Listen in @tunein at http://tun.in/sfAtE

Ed Sheeran has followed in Taylor Swift’s shoes in turning to Aaron Dessner to help with a simpler sound, a return to his singer-songwriter roots for this album. Fewer songwriting collaborators and deeply personal lyrics about loss (two friends passed away over the last year) and the challenge of his wife’s cancer diagnosis make this a strong heartfelt album. Written over an astonishingly short period this is evidence that Sheeran’s creativity is as strong as ever. Alex Petridis of The Guardian even called it “easily his best album ever” in an excellent review. We look forward to investigating it this week.

Album of the Week: Ed Sheeran – =

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our irregularly updated #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm Monday to Friday. Listen in @tunein at https://tunein.com/radio/New-Zealand-Net-Radio-s305138/

It would have been perverse to ignore the new Ed Sheeran album. The man is obviously a master of popular music. Most of the reviews seem to have been 3/5 although its not clear how the album falls short – the main criticism is that he is ploughing familiar ground. There are sonic differences though, and the melodic and topical variety in this album mean it certainly isn’t a replay of previous efforts. It is just a collection of melodic, well performed pop – I’m not sure what more you could want! Not a dud in the pack – the highlight? Hard to choose but “Overpass Graffiti” is pretty special.